May 26, 2016 Orange County Review
We continue to search for living descendants of the Taliaferro and Shepherd families and are ever hopeful!
This week’s story is full of new information about Frank Tibbs.
In case it has slipped your mind, Frank Tibbs was believed to be the husband of Matilda Tibbs and father of several children. If you will recall, Matilda and children were freed by Lucy Quarles’ will in 1842 and relocated to Fairfield County, Ohio. There was no mention of Frank Tibbs in the Quarles’ will of 1842 or her husband’s in 1834. This inquiring mind wanted to know more about Mr. Tibbs, but where to look?
He was not listed in the Matilda Tibbs’ household or the neighborhood of Fairfield in the subsequent census records. Based on that information, it is reasonable to conclude that he did not travel with them. The question is why not?
The most logical explanation is that he was enslaved on a different plantation and not free to accompany his family. Every now and again his name or to be exact, the name of a Frank Tibbs would crop up.
A Frank Tibbs purchased an item from the Quarles estate sale and after emancipation a Frank Tibbs was listed on the Personal Property Tax Records for Orange County as well as in the Freedman’s Bureau Records. Was this the same Frank Tibbs whose wife and children relocated to Ohio? The question kept nagging at me and the puzzle remained incomplete.
Recently, while reviewing the Montpelier research data for emancipation records in Orange County, the name Frank Tibbs surfaced! To clarify, these were records distinct from any wills where someone may have been released from bondage at an owner’s death. The act of emancipation was the deliberate granting of freedom from enslavement and was usually documented as a legal transaction. In many cases the record would detail the rationale and it is written as follows for Frank Tibbs.
"….in consideration of faithful service of our slave Frank Tibbs, a mulatto man about forty eight years of age and to enable him to move with his wife and children who were Emancipated by the will of Mrs. Lucy Quarle….and in further consideration of the sum of one dollar paid in hand by said Frank Tibbs. Emancipate and set free the said Frank Tibbs to enjoy his freedom henceforth, fully and completely as if he had been born free."
—Excerpted from Deed Book 38 in the Orange County Courthouse and signed by the heirs of the Reuben Conway Estate, September, 1842.
This was an amazing piece of information though raising even more questions.
What we know:
1842: Matilda Tibbs and children are emancipated and relocate to Fairfield County, Ohio.
1842: Frank Tibbs is emancipated by the Reuben Conway Estate.
1850/1860 Census—Matilda Tibbs living in Ohio without a spouse.
1866: Freedman’s Bureau Report—A Frank Tibbs received one pair of pants and two shirts.
1868: Personal Property Tax records—a Frank Tibbs is living at T.F. Coleman’s.
1869: Personal Property Tax records—a Frank Tibbs is living at T.F. Coleman’s.
Yet to be researched: "Frank Tibbs, the preacher."
There is considerable information about a preacher by the name of Frank Tibbs who served churches in both Orange and Madison Counties in the late 1800s. Is this the same man? Did he travel to Ohio and then return after the war? So many questions! Stay tuned.
Until next week, be well.